


Promptober

by Skatearound



Category: Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: Daily Prompts, F/M, Gen, Promptober, possible spoilers for all canon; possible complete divergence from all canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-10 08:37:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 19,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12295437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skatearound/pseuds/Skatearound
Summary: With thanks to DestinyFreeReally, who had an idea just when I have a little time to play, a ficlet for every day in October. Trying for variety here. No rating but it is possible there will be dragons lurking, I will try to put warnings before individual fics.I don't own these characters (surprise!)





	1. Bruise (Madison and Lauren)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after the reunion.  
> I don't own these characters (surprise!)

Bruise

Lauren sighed internally at the set of Madison’s back straight against the simple wooden chairs of the breakfast nook, she was going to rant about something and there would be no escaping it. Lauren went for the coffee first, using one of the large hand thrown stoneware mugs that Madison thinks look common, and choose a vegan cinnamon roll topped with cashew icing because the calories would distract Madison. The house was still full of treats. Sometimes Lauren thought she was lucky Madison hadn’t driven her to obesity, but Lauren was going to Stanford now. She loved her sister and cinnamon rolls more when she visits with them less. “Oh.” Lauren noticed Madison’s swollen nose, the black bruise around her bloodshot slit of an eye, purple with a red edge. “What happened?” Nothing would make Maddy angrier than messing with her face, not scratching her car or stealing her boyfriend. Lauren imagined thick squidgy hand drawn lines radiating from Madison. Lauren was an art major and someday she was going to do a cartoon of Madison when she was in one of her snits. But she wouldn’t want Maddy to know she made fun of her.

Madison drank the herbal cleansing tea she preferred in the morning and ate some of her fruit and yogurt in stiff, self-righteous silence. She sneered at the cinnamon roll and winced. “Lauren, you know better than to eat that stuff.”

“Maddy, what happened?”

Maddy muttered. “Just my mistake for thinking that loser could take a joke. Bitch. Do you think my nose job is ruined?”

“I don’t know about that.” To Madison that would be the worst, having a perfect nose was her prize accomplishment. She couldn’t turn her nose up at people if her nose was all common. Lauren rubbed her own nose. “It will be fine, Madison. You’re gorgeous, you know that.” Lauren took a deep gulp of coffee, her parents bought the good beans. “Who was it? Someone at the reunion?”

Madison snorted, accompanied by a high pitched whistle. “Veronica Mars. I don’t think you ever met her.”

“I did.” Said Lauren, turning the beginning of her smile to a frown when Madison glared, “not that we hung out or anything, just talked a couple of times when... And I heard about the Lilly Kane murder and stuff around Neptune High, you know.”

“I didn’t think she’d come to the reunion, but she did, with Logan, too.” Madison said bitterly. “And her usual crew.”

“Wow, Logan Echolls, that shows some nerve after the ...” Lauren suddenly remembered Maddy mooning over Logan. Whoops. She half wished she could have watched Maddy, sitting behind her table with her fairly gross (in Lauren’s opinion) group of friends, dealing with the unexpected. But she also knew the reunion had meant a lot to Maddy and she’d worked hard. “So, why would she hit you?” Lauren pushed her own hair from her face with the back of her hand, the part that wasn’t covered with sugar, then pushed back her chair and washed her hands and refilled her coffee. “Can I get you something, Tylenol?”

“You’ll get fat eating those things.” Madison sniped. “You gained weight at school.”

Lauren shrugged. “Why did she hit you, Maddy?” Madison was going to tell her but Lauren hoped she didn’t spend the whole morning getting to the point, and after another good look at Madison’s face, maybe Madison wasn’t going to tell her. It was probably something mean Madison had done, Lauren was familiar with that side of Madison. Lauren was a little mouse with her nose in a book while Maddy cut her swathe through highschool, she’d heard a lot. “You don’t have to tell me.” She saw the tension go out of Madison’s shoulders, just a little, and then tense up as their mother walked in.

“Hi, Maddy, I made you an appointment with Doctor Reingold, he’ll see you this afternoon, and I called Principal Clemmons. It’s a good thing Lauren ended up doing all of those fundraisers and roped me in, and we invited him to all of those parties here, so I can call him when I need to, although I figured when both of you were out of high school I was clear. He said you’d run a sex tape of this person at the reunion and that started a fight, he wasn’t really sure why she hit you but it sounds like nothing to go to the cops about, right honey, now that you’ve slept on it.?” She went over and touched Madison’s bruise gently. “ I said we’d donate a chunk of money to pay for the things that were water damaged when the sprinklers went off.”

Lauren was pretty sure that Madison wanted to do something to Veronica, press charges, but their Mom wouldn’t let her. Good enough. She got up and filled a mug of coffee for her mother and they chatted about a variety of things while Madison pouted. So the reunion Madison had hoped would bring back her glory days ended in a brawl for someone else. Poor Maddy. Not for the first time Lauren looked at her sister and committed herself to the future instead of the past. Also she’d send Maddy a gift, in a week or two. Maddie loved gifts.

A week later Madison drove into LA, to the apartment she shared with three other women. The bruise was a mottled yellow memory she could cover with makeup and made a good story if she left out some of the parts. That night she had too many sweet mixed drinks and sex with a guy whose name she forgot immediately. He had brown eyes and his brown hair was frosted and when she looked at him through her grasshopper goggles he reminded her of Logan Echolls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm off. I'll have to post a few to catch up. Hope someone likes them!


	2. Witch (Veronica and Lilly)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lilly and Veronica go on a field trip  
> I don't own these characters (surprise!)

Witch

The class field trip to Belmont Park in San Diego was going as well as a grade school trip could go, Veronica wasn’t tall enough to get on the roller coaster but she did, anyway, and it was the best, although she really had to hang on a couple of times. Her Dad wouldn’t let her go on them because he said she’d fly off. “You have to stay in your seat or die flying. You’re too lightweight.” She had no intention of telling him about it.

She was just finishing lunch when she turned to say something to Lilly, but Lilly was gone because being with Lilly was like herding cats. She was drawn to boys too old for her like cats were drawn to catnip and mouseholes. Veronica was more like a dog, Veronica thought, a small fierce dog that would go down a hole after a badger and corner it. She growled experimentally and Jacko, sitting with his back to her, jumped and sprayed milk out of his nose. He turned around and she quickly drank her soda, looking innocent and biting her tongue to keep from laughing. She took the paper bag of fries with her and dumped the rest of the tray in the garbage bin. She didn’t see Lilly in the bathrooms or the food lines or at the other tables. She craned her head up and looked at the signs and headed towards the boardwalk. It was a clear day with blue skies, as always. A hairy old guy started when he saw her and smiled in an inviting way, gesturing her over as if he thought she was an idiot. She gave him one of her much practiced glares and he sat back, surprised. When she looked out towards the ocean she had an impression that a shadow had moved in front of her and when it wraithed away she saw Lilly standing in front of a display case of some sort, dressed in her pink shorts and top. Veronica walked in that direction, throwing her remaining handful of fries to the gulls. “Lilly!” She called out.”

Lilly stood in front of the wax witch, arms crossed behind her back, checking her out. The sign said ‘Esmeralda’. The doll was pretty and delicate, a little small to be human, not at all scary. She wore a red turban held in the middle with a red gold brooch, and a prim blouse with a ruffled bib and white gloves. The case was glass but she sat in a pink striped tent in the case. Lilly put in her money,. Everything seemed to go dark for a minute and then Lilly saw spots in front of her eyes when the sun returned. A rusty sound as the doll turned her head and mimed laying out cards and held one out to Lilly. There was a distant cackle and paper creaked out of the slot. Lilly picked it up carefully, touching it as little as possible. “You won’t grow up.” Lilly looked the witch doll in the eyes and she saw nothing, no intelligence or magic but the doll winked at her. She shoved the paper into her pink Hermes crossbody and looked up as Veronica. “Ice cream, Veronica. My treat.” 

“Did you get a fortune?” When Lilly shook her head Veronica put two of her quarters in the machine, which again whirred and scraped and spit out a piece of paper. Veronica looked at it. It said: “Go get ice cream.”


	3. Fire (Veronica, Keith, Logan)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica and Logan face some fears  
> I don't own these characters (surprise!)

Fire

Veronica spent a lot of time in high school and college thinking she could get out of anything using her mouth, but it is also true she ended up victimized a lot, too, and not always by her enemies. Columbia Law burned that part of her life right out of her, so when she worked on a case and met Stan she saw not just someone to have dinner with, someone with an interesting wife and five dogs that Pony loves seeing, she discovered a course of study that would make her a fire responder. Stan mentioned she was small for a fireman, even in the wilderness, but if that stopped her from doing anything she’d, well, never do anything.

Veronica had a secret, between her and her therapist, anyway, that she feared fire after that incident with Aaron closing her into a refrigerator and setting her on fire. Veronica hated having something like that control her.  
So, she’s driving back from a daytrip, she’s driving and sees the fire and she stops to aid, leaving a quick call to her Dad to look after Pony, and lo and behold, it is Stan taking the lead on this one. They exchange hugs when he finishes his phone calls and he hands her a fire extinguisher. They are making a fire wall around a series of buildings she can see not too far to the right. 

She introduces herself to Celia and Tammy, the three of them will be buddies and look after each other. “Has everyone been evacuated?” she asks. 

“Yes and no.” Tammy breaks open another extinguisher. “They got almost everyone out but there still is a kid missing. Tammy has wrapped a wet scarf around her kinky hair and Veronica does the same with her long, wavy locks. She is afraid of fire but here she feels like she isn’t fighting her fear, it’s tangible and she can do something. 

Six hours later night has fallen. Veronica grabs some water and finds a place to piss. She totally smells like smoke and her sandwich tastes like charcoal, but she eats it. The edge of the fire is moving towards the houses and she knows enough fire science to know they will have to leave them to the fire and let the reservoir stop the progress of the fire towards San Diego. And she’s tired and she’s been busy and it is another job to work on until it is finished, so she feels okay. 

She walks to the edge of the clearing and looks, sees a movement behind on of the houses. It could be a coyote, she supposes, but it seemed awfully human shaped. Acting on a whim she darts forward, although she can here the main body of the fire. Behind her people are packing up everything to move to safer ground. The smoke is heavier than she thought and she’s crawling when she gets to the back of the house, really a shack. Nothing. She coughs out a greeting, still nothing. There’s a refrigerator and Veronica bites her lip as she approaches it. The girl scratches her as she pulls her out but Veronica holds on and runs towards safety with the fire at her heels. Veronica passes out as she hears Celia yell for medical assistance. 

“Hi, Logan. No, don’t panic. I know you are training in Texas this week, but I wanted you to know Veronicas in the hospital. Smoke inhalation. She pulled a little girl out of a fire. Both will be ok, she be home by the time you get back. I’m looking after the dog. Call me if you get the chance.” Keith finishes his message, puts his phone in his pocket and goes in to see Veronica.

Logan’s training takes another couple of weeks, so when he comes home Veronica is out of the hospital and back at work. Her hair isn’t quite as short as it was back at the beginning of their Junior year, but it is shorter than he’s seen it since then, she doesn’t smell like smoke anymore and she seems okay. He can look her over carefully as she drives them back from the San Diego airport. 

“So, any exciting stories to tell me?” Veronica keeps her eyes on the road, for the most part. She’s already told him about the fire incident, they’ve skyped and chatted since then, but she isn’t sure he understands how happy she is, she feels she’s put something behind her. As brave and wonderful as her Dad is, she is now strong enough to rescue other people and that feels good. There’s a lot she hasn’t talked about with Logan. They must, she is afraid of him being hurt and she takes a risk being with him, but that’s how she handles her fear. Is being with her worth the risk of losing her? She doesn’t know if Logan sees it that way. 

“No, pretty dull.” It had been. “Except for the flying and trying out the new planes. Oh, I told you, we had some old small planes we got to fly…stuff. Pretty quiet and safe.” He reached out a hand and put it on her thigh, just for a minute, then ran a finger down her arm. “You’re still here. Aren’t you small to be a firefighter?”

“Yeah, well I’m not a fireman, I just took some classes, fire is so common in this area it makes sense to know something about it. I’m tired of being a victim, Logan. I’m tired of putting other people in danger to rescue me. “  
“I don’t mind.” She parked in front of the apartment.

“I do.” She said, turning the car off. “I really do.”

“You could stop getting into dangerous situations.”

“That’s one solution.” Veronica thought about how to word it: “I don’t think so.”

“Well, you’ve always been my hero.” He went around the car and pulled her into a hug, she pulled back for as long as it took to her step up on a short wall next to the sidewalk to help equalize their height. “Turnabout is fair play. Stifle it, Mars.”

“Okay, you get one rescue Veronica free card.” She said, through their kiss.

“More than one or no sex for you.” He said, pulling away and running into the building and up the stairs.

“Extortionist.” She caught him at the door and the two of them greeted Pony and then he turned and tried to pounce on Veronica. She squealed and ran into the bedroom, trying to close the door behind her, laughing when he blocked it from closing. She turned at the bed and he landed on top of her, protecting her from his full weight with his forearms. They kissed, she wrapped her legs around him, trying to flip him over without success. She freed her mouth long enough to say, “You’ll never get my clothes off without my cooperation, buddy.”

“It isn’t easy for me to let you take risks.” He said seriously into her dark, dilated eyes and rolling her to the side. She kicked off her sandals and started to shimmy out of her pants. “I know I have to, though.” He bent down and kissed her again. As her hips arched up against him she thought, “me, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may be a little far fetched, but it happened. Hope it works.


	4. Coffee and Tea in Space (Kwantum Keith, Raygun Ronnie, ensemble)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Combining two prompts here. Coffee and Pie outside the planetary limits of Neptune!  
> I don't own these characters (surprise!)

Coffee and Tea in Space

Everybody in the asteroid belt past Neptune knew Kwantum Keith and Raygun Ronnie made the best cup of coffee and Marsapple pie in the solar system and their companion Space Weevil ran a place where you could get your spaceship fixed and launder your contraband. If you ask nice Kwantum and Raygun will solve your murder and prove your wife is cheating on you. It is a one stop facility, a place that has real value out in the Kuiper belt. 

The OhNeeners, drove them from Mars after Lilly RocketKane’s murder. It was the talk of the solar system. The RocketKane children, Raygun, and Logan Rocketcock were all best friends before Lilly’s death. Kwantum Keith was the Sheriff in those parts, but he accused the wrong man. He had good reason, but the neeners didn’t take kindly to the accusation. He spent a year or two working private cases until Raygun finished her education, but generally they will tell you they didn’t have a lot of fun, those two years. 

They did solve Rocketkane’s murder, putting it on the trivid star Aaron Rocketcock, but he was acquitted and then assassinated. It’s a sordid tale that makes almost everyone frown to hear it and they still argue about whether Rocketcock was innocent or guilty on late night trivee.

They never found who killed him but once Kwantum and Raygun had set up their place a man joined them as their cook. Handsome and withdrawn, he slings Triton hash and old earth burgers with the best of them and raises his small daughter in a room off the hydroponics area. 

People don’t ask a lot of questions if the pie and coffee are good, not out at the edge of the solar system.

So, it’s the new year out in the Kuiper belt. The diner is softly lit with bulbs that mimic candlelight and full enough with celebrants who will also sleep in their circled ships or the handful of small rooms available for transients. The stage is dark except for a warm circle of yellow light, and Raygun is standing there dressed in a red sequined dress that might have been painted on her. She’s short but her heels are high and her honey blonde hair falls in rich heavy waves off one shoulder. The light softens and widens and Weevil is behind her stroking a Spanish guitar. Kwantum stands behind the bar, a rag in one hand and watches her with pardonable pride. Donut the cook has put his daughter JuneBot to bed and stands with a beer. He watches Raygun sing with an expression that might be love or intestinal turmoil, but he does watch her like everyone else. 

There is a newsfeed over the bar, a running line of words, in three common languages and everyone pretty much ignores it because it is about things that are a long way away.

Raygun sings and room listens.

“Everyone clearing out?” Weevil asks around his sonic wrench.

“Yep. Most left early. Belters aren’t heavy drinkers, not if they want to live long.” Her voice catches.

“It’s not your fault he drank.” Weevil tells her. “You tried to get him to stop.” Looking around for a change of subject, he says: “How’s the set up for the poker tournament going?” Weevil then remembers that one night at the Rocketcock’s party and kicks himself, but Raygun smiles. 

“Going good. Make your list of what you need for when we are rolling in credits.” Her eyes are a little distant. “Here, I’ll help you patch those sails while I wait for the mailbot. I’m expecting materials for the next semester.

“You really going to finish college, Ray?” 

“I’m trying. I’d like to make my mark on the solar system, you know, more than carving my initials in methane rocks. Help people. That’s why the poker is so important. I have to pay at the end of the courses to get the credit. They get you coming and going.”

“You do help people, Chica. You helped me, I’d be neener fertilizer like my abuela, if you didn’t save me.” 

Raygun and Weevil spend a moment holding on to each other. She misses his Grandmother, too.

“Here, take this.” He breaks off before they become maudlin. He hands her a piece of the thin solar material and they work on the sails in companionable, familiar silence.

Kwantum is alone at one of the tables, the remains of his breakfast pushed to the side and a huge cup of coffee at his right hand. He’s paying bills and calculating expenses, ordering necessities like toilet paper and energy crystals. He’d leave it to Raygun but she did it last month and this month she has enough on her plate. After one long calculation that ends up with them barely having the credits to stave off the cold of space he leans back and looks at the news feed. One line in Chinese, one in the Martian patois, and one in English. The president of Earth was elected, Mac Mackensie has a controlling interest in the RocketKane fortune, which Kwantum should tell Donut, although the interactions of the big tech firms are kind of distant on the rim of the system. Donut probably wants to know, though. Families family. Kwantum wonders if Jake RocketKane ever wonders about his son. 

Kwantum spends a few minutes reorganizing the paperwork and putting the pages of receipts in order. He then leans back to enjoy a swallow of coffee, but he sees the newsfeed and sits up straight in surprise. There is a rumor that Logan Rocketcock was seen at one of the MacKensie parties. It seems unlikely, and he hopes it is a bit of news Raygun misses. There were rumors of a Rocketcock bastard, maybe he explains these sightings that won’t let Logan die. Contrary to popular belief Kwantum never hated Logan, he just wanted the bullying soul sucker far away from his brave, struggling daughter. Kwantum got to hold her when the drunken idiot drove his space yacht into unoccupied Ceres. He doesn’t want to do it again.  
Kwantum gets up and refills his coffee and then pulls up the systemnet and does a search for Logan. If those stories were going to be dragged through the news again he was going to be there to support Raygun through every bit of unconfirmed nonsense. 

To be continued…..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued!


	5. Study (Logan and Veronica)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3rd season, Angst  
> I don't own these characters (surprise!)

Study

“Logan, I have to study for these tests. I can’t come over to the Grand tonight.”

“Ok, I’ll see you tomorrow at the library, though?” Logan asked, leering a little.

“Logan all I see you for is sex and making out. I CAN’T. I must study. You can come study with me or… or I don’t know, but I’m not just your booty call. Now, excuse me. “

He ran up behind her. “A couple of weeks ago you had time to go to those movies?” He was trying not to whine.

“Yeah, and you didn’t want to go with me. Doesn’t change my needing to study now. And that time I wanted to go to San Diego to that photography exhibit, you thought it was boring? Still need to study now.” She stops and turns, so he almost runs into her. He steps back and both see two blond girls waving in their general direction. Veronica’s eyes narrow and Logan sheepishly waves back.

“When you went to the movies I met them in one of Dick’s Pi Sig dances.” Logan doesn’t want her following him again. He is suddenly tired of having to beg Veronica for sex and wonders if he should find a more accommodating girlfriend. Those two girls seemed really excited to meet him and they were really complimentary, he thinks, although he was pretty drunk at the time. 

Veronica walks dejectedly over to the nearby bench and sits heavily down, dropping her bag in front of her. I’m tired of begging you to do something with me, fuck Logan, you can have sex with anyone. I need…”

“What, V?” he never feels needed when he’s around her.

“I need someone to bring me out of myself, something fun in my life that isn’t all work and school.’

“Sex is fun!” his brow wrinkles above his nose, he doesn’t understand where the conversation is going.

“Yeah, I guess.” She sounds dejected. “If you’re good at it.” She sighs. “Logan, I have to study for these tests, I’m going to do that. You want to do something else, do it with someone else. I’ve barely slept in three days. I cannot deal.”

Logan watches her pick up her bag, throw it over her shoulder. He reaches out his hand and touches his wrist, she stands up out of his reach, as if she didn’t feel his touch. 

“I’ll see you around.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next one is happier.


	6. Ice Cream (Veronica/Logan)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan has a bad dream, Veronica tries to comfort him.  
> I don't own these characters (surprise!)

Ice Cream

“Logan, wake up. Wake up.” His forehead was sweaty and she tried to dry it with the sheets and kissed him all over his face. He pushed her away in his sleep. She felt helpless when he had these nightmares, more so because they were silent. She gently grabbed his wrists but he broke her hold, covering his face with his forearms. This was new. He’d always had nightmares, more during the old days at the grand, fewer since they’d reconnected. She knew he’d taken medication for a while and wondered if she should talk to him about it.

She didn’t even understand, her dreams happened when her waking brain wasn’t paying attention and when she figured it out the dreams stopped, too. If her brain was particularly pissed at her it just kept her awake. He had them like his brain turned itself to the evil channel on brain radio. “Logan.” He was quiet about it, maybe that is how he got away with it on deployment, just alone all night in his own nightmare world with no one to wake him up. “Logan!”

Her desperation must have gotten through the noise. He sat up suddenly. “I’m awake!” Then he crumpled to the side, his head on her chest and let her hold him. He felt like he had a fever.

The position was awkward but she held it for a while, stroking his hair. She was going to have to pee soon. There was a faint line of light under the curtains, the light that came before the sun came up, the false dawn. “I’m getting up. Do you want some water?” He nodded and she untangled herself. A few minutes later she returned with a glass. “You okay?” She handed him the water. “Want to talk about it?”

He looked at her blurrily. “Probably not.” He splashed a teaspoon of water on her leg, grabbing for the glass, and clumsily wiped it off with his hand and drank. “Sorry. Come back to bed?” 

She nodded and took the glass and put it on the nightstand. They maneuvered a bit, making room for her enlarged middle, ending up with his longer limbs wrapped around her.

“Dammit,” muttered Veronica.

“What, you OK?” he cupped one of her breasts and kissed her neck.

“Yeah, I just decided I want ice cream.”

“Right this minute?”

She snuggled into him. “I’ll live.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually edited this, AdorkableAuthor was correct, there was a really really really run on sentence in there so I decided to try to fix it.


	7. Hair (Continues Ch. 6 Ice Cream)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica finally gets her ice cream and they talk about hair  
> I don't own these characters

Hair

Veronica leaned on Logan, feet on the coffee table, and ate her ice cream, mint chocolate chip wet dog. It was raining and they’d had to finally get up, walk Pony, dry Pony and shower, so she’d earned her dessert for breakfast. Even if wet dog was the primary smell in the apartment. “You want some?” she asked.

“Not hungry for wet dog ice cream.” Logan swallowed a yawn and took a few seconds to convince himself to open his eyes.

“When I finish we can go back to bed.” Veronica reached back and ran a finger along his cheek. The dark circles under his eyes had dark circles.

He leaned into her hand. “Why’d you cut your hair?” he asked.

“In high school?” Veronica thought. “Lilly really was into the long hair and my mother thought it was wonderful. It never really fit my …and then when …” He was shaking his head. “Oh, you mean …”

“Yeah. I came back from being on deployment and ….”

“You said you liked it.” Veronica thought back a few years. “Laziness mostly. It is a lot of work maintaining that shit, especially if you can’t afford to go to a salon every week. My hair always looked like crap in high school when it was long and I always felt like I was hiding behind a curtain. A curtain with split ends, like a bad theatrical wig. I don’t know, every time I had long hair, before Lilly died, At Hearst, in New York, I was doing it to please someone else. I think I stopped being that kind of girl. I’m sorry?”

“No, I like it, It’s my Veronica, not Duncan’s Veronica or, um, New York Veronica. When I came back I believed you might stay with me. I was a little sad, though too, because I always though girly Veronica was cute.”

She finished the ice cream, wriggled away from him and took the dish to the kitchen to rinse. “Feel free to meet me in the bedroom.” 

She finished brushing her teeth. He was still on the couch, so she sat down next to him and put his hand on her stomach. “Girly, eh? This isn’t girly enough for you?”

“Not what I meant, Mars.” 

“OK.” Veronica yawned and nuzzled into his chest.

“Should I sleep on the couch for a while?” Logan said softly. “I don’t want to keep waking you up.”

Her eyes opened suddenly. “God, no. Logan. We’ll work it out somehow. Together.”


	8. Mask (Logan in Aspen)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan goes to Aspen
> 
> I don't own these characters

Mask

Logan picked up his phone, hit one of the speedials. “Hi, Martha, it’s Logan Echolls. Yes.” His lawyer’s secretary. While he waited he smelled his armpit, making a face. “Hi, Frank. I’d like to use the Aspen house for a few days. Not sure, two to five, I’d guess. Just me. just Have them heat the lower levels, theirs a couple of guest rooms near the media area. Stock the fridge with eggs, sausage, coffee, milk, some soda and bottled water, make sure there’s toilet paper. Oh, and have them lay a fire in the fireplace. That sort of thing. Thanks. Yes, I’m fine. We’ll talk next year, yeah, ha ha. Merry Christmas, Frank.”

Logan owned the chalet, Aaron had put it in Lynn’s name as a tax dodge and used it for dodgy affairs. Lynn’s will had been clear and Logan had inherited the Aspen Chalet and three other properties around the globe. Logan had immediately forbidden them to both Aaron and Trina. The lawyers advised Logan to keep them, they all had accounts to keep them maintained so Trina was furious, of course, she was cut off from some of her favorite places. Aaron did a lot of understated threatening before he died suddenly. 

Logan showered and drove to Aspen, he needed the time sober to prepare for Christmas drinking. He would have asked Dick but Dick was in Vegas with some frat brothers. Driving alone was mesmerizing. Sometimes he made up stories of where people were going for the holidays. 

He’d forgotten that Aaron kept cars here, they were up on blocks and he vaguely remember being told they’d had the gas siphoned out and been prepared for a long time without use. They had also been in his mother’s name and were probably an asset he should think about and sell.

He walked into the big open room. It was warm and he put his things in the fridge, opened Aaron’s secret liquor cabinet and took out a bottle of Springback 18 and a glass. He’d wondered if the liquor would be gone and he’d picked up some on his own, but this was better. After a swallow to fortify himself he started the fire, sat on the couch and stared into the flames, sipping the scotch with determination.  
He remembered being here when Aaron had just bought the Chalet. Aaron had left for an extended period of filming, it was one of the best periods of Logan’s childhood. He was twelve and his friends had come with him and his mother for Thanksgiving. Logan knew that Veronica’s mother had been going through a bad patch with her drinking and her Dad had probably been happy to get rid of her, he wasn’t sure why Duncan and Lilly had been released into the wild, but the trip was some of the most fun he’d ever had sober. They’d gone to a couple of plays and Veronica had made cookies and his mother made a pumpkin pie from scratch. Oh, and Lilly had figured out how to break into this liquor cabinet. He raised his glass to her memory and to his mother. He briefly thought he saw his mother standing in front of the fireplace, looking sadly at him alone on the couch. She had been happy that Thanksgiving that he’d had real friends. Logan closed his eyes for a minute, remembering what it was like to have friends. It had been such a strange feeling, he’d never believed it would last. He shrugged. It hadn’t. Aaron filmed a trilogy of fantasy films and a couple of Australian westerns and an Italian car chase movie and didn’t come back until Logan’s fourteenth birthday.  
“There’s the downer.” Logan thought, threw a log on the fire and got seriously drunk. 

After a couple of days, he was bored. He decided to rent skis and exercise tomorrow and to celebrate this by eating something except takeout pizza. At ten he wandered into the cold, clear night looking for food. The street was packed with people, some casually dressed but all expensively dressed, all with someone else, all wonderfully, impossibly happy. It was so strange he couldn’t figure out what to do next. 

Then Casey Gant ran into him. Casey was loping across the street, Logan was gawking. Casey pushed Logan down into the snow. 

“Logan.” Casey’s cheeks were pink and his down jacket unzipped. “I’m sorry. Just running back from my car. God, man, are you going to be all right. Look, are you alone? Or is Veronica around?”

Logan obviously was alone, he nodded and awkwardly stood up. His knee might be bruised but his dress pants were intact. “We broke up.” He managed to say it without too much drama. He remembered Veronica had said something about Casey once, but he didn’t remember what it was, although he remembered Luke telling him that ‘gant’ means ‘yawn’ in Scottish. So much for his brain.

“Sorry, again. Look, I’m giving a party, come join us for a while, there’s food and drink.” 

Logan tried not to limp, listening to a list of who was there that Logan would know. Carrie and Madison and Luke and a variety of folks, none of them Veronica. “The old one-year reunion?” he joked at Casey. 

“It’s a masquerade. You don’t have a choice, they’ll put the masks on you at the door and that is who you are for the evening. Not my idea, the restaurant does it every year, I just rented the room on the right day.”

After an hour Logan started to feel at home. The mask, a stylized leather goat, was comfortable, a $200 party favor he knew Casey could afford. Casey was a devil, red and black with hints of copper. Madison, a white rabbit, had glued herself to him soon after he came it, but after a few drinks he found he couldn’t care. He found the corner of a couch and watched her sneer about the service to Shelley Pomeroy. Logan couldn’t figure out what ‘they’ had done wrong, but they byplay was familiar, soothing. He dozed as his hangover found its second wind. The conversation may have switched briefly to Veronica, he heard ‘slut’ and ‘party’ and a few other things fly over his head but by the time he’d woken up enough to respond they were talking about people at UCSD. It felt like home. He’d lost his friends and his mother and his big house and Veronica and this was gone, too. He felt absurdly grateful to Casey and Madison and Shelley to find him and spend part of the holidays with him, knowing that by next year they’d all be off doing other things. Next year he would be alone.


	9. Sun (Veronica, Felix,Eli)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica at the community pool

Sun 

It was a brilliant sunny day in late May when Veronica’s plans for the summer started to circle the drain. She was sitting in Lilly’s room, waiting for Lilly to bring up some ice cream from the kitchen and watching the party around the pool. It was a political event, and everyone was dressed primly despite the relaxed location and Veronica secretly had brought out her camera and taken some pictures of the odd event. Women in suites and heels. By accident she caught Lilly on camera, Lilly naked and running through the party. One of Lilly’s whims that her mother blamed on Veronica’s influence.

Veronica and Lilly met at school until it let out and Duncan helped them meet at the beach a couple of times but other than that Veronica didn’t see Lilly until she left for Europe with her mother. It wasn’t a planned trip, according to Lilly. It was Celeste’s way of keeping them apart.

Veronica’s own mother was visiting some relatives Veronica hadn’t met and her father, as usual, was busy with his work. She was enrolled in the community pool swim team five mornings a week and got to take photography classes at the high school after her Dad picked her up for lunch. Sometimes he set her in a room at the Sheriff’s office where she read things she wasn’t supposed to read, learned where a lot of things were kept and asked a lot of questions. One of the deputies was teaching her Spanish and another taught her to take fingerprints. On the long end of the summer days she went to the beach and saw her friends, Ashley and Mike. They made sandcastles and watched the surfers and sometimes they came over so her dad could grill burgers. 

Veronica sat on the bench at the community pool, just out of the hot sun because he burned easily. Her feet didn’t touch the ground and she kept one hand on her duffle bag and flapped her flip flops. The boy next to her, Felix, was telling her how she should give him money for lunch because he was a poor boy and she was a rich girl. Veronica smiled into the can of Skist she’d won by her exhibition of improved swimming skills, because Felix was an ass. Eli, who was in her swim class, walked by. “Felix, stop bothering her.” He said, in Spanish, which Veronica understood a little. 

Felix started to argue back in Spanish.

“It’s all right.” Veronica liked Eli, for some reason. He was the captain of one of the swim teams and he sometimes made the kids stop pushing when they lined up at the edge of the pool. “I’m not going to give him any money and he could be bothering someone else.” She said this Spanish and he looked surprised and somewhat impressed, although her Spanish wasn’t very good. “And I’m not a rich girl.”

“Yeah, but you hang with a rich crowd.” Eli said in English. “Where’s your rich, pretty friend?”

“Europe.”

“Well, call me if Felix bothers you.”


	10. Broom (Liane,Veronica,Hunter)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liane is Magic  
> I don't own these characters

Broom

Liane tucked the sprig of yellow flowers behind her ear. It melted into her yellow hair and she hummed to herself as she danced around the house naked. Her parents were away on vacation. Jake was touring a graduate school in Pennsylvania and Celeste, his bride, was with him. They would move there soon, or to some other place. It was almost midnight, cool to be naked, but she relished the feel against her skin, like electricity, like power.  
It had taken a lot of work to get the nail clippings and the hair clippings from Celeste, because she went to places that cost so much money, but Liane befriended her hairdresser, who was young and pretty and went to a bar that was far away from the college.  
The doll was pretty enough, too. Liane had spent hours making the features similar to Celeste, fashioning the tiny nails, even the small wax nipples and genitals were human enough. Tiny wax pearls circled the throat of the doll. She’d dressed it in a tiny suit. More human than Celeste, she thought happily, standing in the weird circle, spraying the wax doll with liquid nitrogen. “Cold as ice.” Liane said in the witch language. “Cold and your children won’t love you. Cold and your children won’t stand by you. Cold and he’ll want me.” 

And she smashed the doll into shards of was. “Cannot be undone.” She said, with satisfaction. She packed the pieces in a tiny box with a gold lid and tied it with waxed hemp.

For the rest of the year at Hearst Jake stayed away from Liane. He’d promised Celeste and the beginning of their relationship had been rough enough so he agreed their marriage needed the distance. When they graduated he told Celeste he needed to congratulate Liane, and approached her, hugging her briefly. When they separated Liane’s eyes were bright and he knew distancing himself was the right thing. “I hope your marriage is going well.” Liane hadn’t been invited to the wedding, of course, nor had she wanted to come. The talked briefly and Jake returned to Celeste. Honestly, Celeste had changed in the past couple of months, but she was still his wife. 

Many years later Veronica helped her half-brother Hunter clean out their mother’s apartment following her death. Hunter flew in from Chicago for the funeral, Veronica still lived in Neptune. “I don’t see you enough, little brother.” 

“Well, you’ll have that photography show in Chicago in a couple of months, you’ll see me then if I can tear myself away from midterms. Of course you’ll have Logan trailing behind you. I like him but I don’t mind having you to myself, big sister.” He gave her a quick hug. “I’m glad he had to drive back to Neptune early. Any idea what this is?” The two of them peered at the small box he’d opened and shook it to see if something of value was in the bottom. Some of the wax had melted together and there was unidentified glunk stuck in it.

“No, ugh. Throw it out.”

“Okay. Think anyone would want these scarves?”


	11. Water (Veronica)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica walks in the rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own these characters

Water

It rained a lot in New York. Veronica got used to it, bought waterproof boots and carried her books in a garbage bag like everyone else on the worst days. This rain, the fat drops dark with pollution, was different. It was dead hot and the rain didn’t feel like it was falling, it felt like it was being squeezed over her head from a dirty sponge. It was hard to breathe and if she typed she thought her computer would short out. It was like being under water

She went for a swim

She walked in her flip flops and cut offs, her hair dripping, and tried to pretend she was enjoying herself. She chased a rubber duck holding a plastic surfboard and almost caught it before it floated into the sewers. She jumped into a puddle and splashed for no reason. She tried to channel Lilly. Not because Lilly was a free spirit, because somewhere in the distance between Lilly alive and Lilly dead Veronica had come to realize the desperation in her friend’s actions, like a bird with its wing caught in a garage door. No, she thought of Lilly when she felt like giving up, because Lilly wouldn’t let anything stop her from doing what she wanted to do. Except death, of course. 

And Veronica stopped dead in her tracks. 

New York didn’t remind her of Logan and it had been a long time since she’d given him more than a feather’s thought. She usually avoided the sadness, the emptiness as if she’d lost something she wasn’t sure she wanted. But there he was standing under a tree, trying to keep a piece of paper dry while he studied it. He wasn’t an eighth of a block away. Her fight or flight reflex engaged and she stood still, looking at him. She moved forward just as he looked up and dropped the paper. 

It wasn’t him. Loss choked her and squeezed her heart for a minute. No, not him. Dammit? 

The man looked at her oddly and then walked up to her, she smiled automatically while she directed him to the nearest subway entrance. Nothing like Logan, now that she saw him closer. Same coloring?

She turned around and walked back to her dorm, where they may have gotten the air conditioning working a little. When she got to the door the rain had stopped and she saw one piece of blue sky through the clouds. She’d shower and try to see if she could find Logan.


	12. Sacrifice (Duncan)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own these characters

Sacrifice

Lester Johns sat in the emergency room waiting room staring at his phone. Off to the right some poor woman was screaming as they rushed her in from the ambulance, in the little group of chairs to the left a huge family was clustered around an older woman who was weeping with abandon. A young man mopped in the hall way, the ventilation system circulating the smell of vomit and bleach. A baby cried in his mother’s arms, a toddler squealed like a wounded piglet. Sirens went off.   
His daughter Astley had been hit by a car crossing the street to a convenience store, last day of school before Christmas break.

It was hot as hell in Geelong around Christmas this year, 101 in the shade and his shorts, sandals and t shirt weren’t built to withstand the air-conditioning. He’d just talked to Jan; his wife was at a skatepark with their ten-year-old son Logan and he’d have to hang on until she got there. She’d bring in a heavy sweatshirt he kept in their car and then he’d have to explain to Logan what had happened to his sister.

“Sir?” the nurse said, holding out a cup of hot tea. “Would you like to wait somewhere quieter? There’s a waiting room inside.”

Lester deliberately loosened his grip on his iPhone and looked at her face, smiled woodenly. “That would be good.” He loosened his grip on the phone, turned it over. The case had a reproduction of Aaron Echolls, dead, from the war movie, Korea. He absently tapped it with his index finger. Aaron was dead. It didn’t cheer him up as much as it usually did. “How is she?”

“We don’t know yet, sorry. You’ll be closer to the news inside.” The girl, looking as young as his daughter, squeezed his hand, handed him the tea and gestured for him to follow her through the double doors. He shoved the phone in his pants pocket and followed her.

Through the doors it was immediately quieter. A Christmas tree was standing on an end table and tinned carols played lightly. Really worn magazines were tucked into metal hanging racks. ‘Surfing Today” was prominent, he also saw one of the ‘lose ten pounds in a week while eating chocolate cake’ tabloids.

He shut his eyes, holding the cup in both hands and his mind drifted back to another Christmas. It was warm in Neptune but not hot, and the foyer of the mansion wasn’t air conditioned but the same song, “White Christmas’ was playing as background music. The house was lavishly hung with pine, imported from a distance and piles of huge pinecones soaked in cinnamon made the room smell warm. Lester, Duncan, was seven years old. His sister was leading two small blond girls into the house. “Oh, that’s my brother.” Lilly said dismissively. “He won’t bother us.” She said firmly as they walked past, turning when the two visitors were past to give him a firm look. The smaller of the group stopped at the top of the steps to look at him. Veronica….  
Later he got cookies and cocoa brought up by one of the maids and stayed when the maids left. The three small blondes were beautiful. Lilly made him do little errands for her, Meg talked about some choir practice in her church and Veronica finally took a hairbrush away from him and asked him directly what he liked to do. He remembers her blue eyes looking at him and remembers being in love with her. 

“No looking back.” Veronica had said much later, one of the small blondes grown to a teenager like his daughter is now, he remembers that last hug before he took the baby and left. His eyes filled with tears, the other two girls had been dead by then. He didn’t think of them often. When he’d taken the risk of calling Clarence and asking him to kill Logan’s father he’d known he would never go back. When his father found him, and offered him a way back through that bizarre university club he’d refused, for Astley Faith Lillian Johns, of course for her, but he did accept some financial help and keep in contact. He’d gone to school and now he didn’t need his father’s money, he was proud of that. He tracked Logan and Veronica. He’d been happy when they’d gotten together, proud of Logan after the stories his dad had told him about Logan’s descent into alcohol and drugs. Would Logan be happy he’d named his son after him? He hoped so, it was almost as if he had a small, a tiny part of his old friend near him.  
Jake had died a year ago from cancer. Note from the lawyer, no funeral, just an urn of ashes Lester had thrown onto an Australian beach. His mother dead, his sister dead, there had really been no one to pay their respects.

Someone took the cold tea from him. “Les?” Jan’s voice was quiet. She was a sturdy woman, a little heavy, dark hair, athletic. “We can see her now.”

Lester shook his head to clear it. “She’s ok?” he looked at his wife and then at the young nurse, who nodded.

“A broken leg, a couple of ribs. She’s out from the surgery but we can be with her when she wakes up.” 

He nodded again, the past fading away. “Let’s go see her.” He turns to his son. “You OK, Lo?”


	13. Candy (Logan/Veronica;Mac,Dick,Leo)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan makes fudge, Veronica likes fudge  
> A coffee shop AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own these characters

Candy

Veronica pulled an espresso for herself, staring out at the room with lidded eyes. Certainly not looking at the Fitzpatricks. When they’d shown up at Mac’s place last weekend, the big one flirting outrageously with her, she hadn’t thought much of it until Dick had come out for his hourly bad poetry recital. She’d followed him back to the kitchen and he’d told her they’d been trouble in Neptune and to stay away from them. Dick didn’t like her so she figured he wouldn't bother to warn her if it wasn't true.

Dick came from Neptune, about an hour drive in the direction of LA, some sort of spring break and rich person bedroom town. She’d never been to Neptune but her partner, Leo, came from these parts and he’d given her an earful about Neptune. The Fitzpatricks had been abig gangster type family in this area of coastal California.  
The Fitzpatrick kids came in most weekends. Maybe they just liked coffee. 

Veronica had options for weekend gigs. Her college standby was private investigator and she’d found a couple of jobs doing background checks. Most of the San Diego cops moonlighted as security. For the past few weekends she’d been doing the least lucrative job available to her, no pay, working in Mac’s coffee shop as a barista. Mac’s hipster coffee shop, a cavernous warehouse type place with books, mismatched used couches and benches and tables, jazz in the background. No disposable silverware and like a bad cuckoo in a fraternity inspired clock, Mac’s husband Dick came out every hour on the hour and recited bad poetry before retreating to wash dishes in the back. 

Mac was Veronica’s oldest friend, they grew up together in Seattle. Mac’s dad worked for Microsoft and someday Mac would do something amazing with computers, but right now she was starting this coffee shop to keep Dick out of trouble. Veronica met Dick when she was Mac’s maid of honor at the wedding. Dick didn’t like her. There was no real reason for it, something about her looking like someone else, some ‘rich guy kryptonite’ named Lilly that she’d never met. Leo had told her Lilly had been murdered in high school. Some movie star had been accused and acquitted, so the murderer had never been found. Veronica remembered the story. Vaguely. It was the year her mother had left them and she hadn’t been paying a lot of attention to news.

The place was quiet and someone else was working barista duty with Veronica so she went back to the kitchen, looking for Mac and was surprised to see a tall lean man with hugely muscled arms standing talking to Dick and stirring something in a large bowl. When she came in he smiled and waved her over, grabbing a clean spoon, dipping it in his bowl and handing it to her. “What do you think?”

Embarrassing that her knees almost gave out. It was the best melt-in-your-mouth fudge that she’d ever had. Dick had to grab her. “Whoa, dude. Don’t kill the help.” Dick was such a gentleman.

“I’m Logan.” The man with the arms smiled at her, his eyes were warm as melted chocolate, and put out a hand to support her. She leaned into his arm shamelessly and he grinned cockily.

“I’m Veronica.” 

“Fudge gets them every time, Dude.” Dick grinned. “I remember in college, that fudge and weed combination, whoa. I got laid so hard I had to take penicillin for two months.”

“That doesn’t make sense, Dick.” Veronica recovered herself, Dick was like a bracing splash of cold water that way. 

“Yes, it does.” Dick insisted. “Don’t tell Mac, though.”

“Dick.” Logan remonstrated, no one needs to hear ….”

Veronica used the distraction to grab a clean spoon and another bite of fudge and escape to the main room. It was better than sex. Maybe. She hadn’t had sex for a while.

Logan followed her around with his eyes for the rest of the afternoon, but he didn’t approach her. He didn’t seem shy because pretty girls surrounded him whenever he stopped moving and he talked to them easily. He talked to them but he watched her, so maybe he was interested. Logan was the cutest guy she’d met in San Diego, except for Leo, maybe Leo. Who had a steady girlfriend.

The Fitzpatricks had left by that time and Veronica left when the evening workers came in.

“Hey, Mac?” Veronica asked the next weekend when the morning rush had cleared and it was quiet except for the Ellington in the background. “What do you know about that Logan guy? Dick’s friend?”

“He makes good fudge.” Mac snickered. “Focus, V. When I say ‘fudge’ your eyes get dark. Dilated pupils, saliva at the edge of your mouth. I think you’re in love!”

“With Logan?” 

“With fudge, V. I don’t really know him that well. I met Dick at UCLA, you know, and Logan grew up with Dick, different time, really. Barely met him in LA, although he did graduate work in LA.”

“Oh, Neptune?” He’d made that clear when they were preparing for the wedding and had just met, when Veronica was Mac’s maid of honor. Dick was a rich kid but he’d blown his trust fund on a failed surfboard business. He came into some more money in a few years and meanwhile he didn’t do much of anything except what Mac told him. He seemed to make Mac happy. Veronica judged, frankly, but she kept it to herself. 

“We can go to Neptune, there are some nice beaches, if you like that? I keep meaning to go during the week, to get away from all the coffee and pizza. Dick’s parents are long gone, I only was there once, trip to some nightclub. His Mom’s in Northern California somewhere and travels a lot. His dad left the country for, I guess, reasons”

“Neptune?” said Veronica, thoughtfully. Logan would have been there when, ’07,’08? About the time the Fitzpatricks ran that big gun running caper that brought them down. After something else happened, she forgot, no the gun thing was later. They’d owned the local Sheriff then, she didn’t remember his name. “So, Logan?”

“He does film editing, I think. He’s coming tonight, you want to see him again. Maybe he’ll make ….” Mac lowered her voice, made it husky. “Candy.”

“Ah.” Veronica put a slight upturn to the sound “I do like candy, but I don’t know if I can last until tonight. I need to do some things to prepare for the week. Unless you really need the help?”

“You know, V, it’s quiet here right now. Why don’t you go do your laundry and shopping, like you said you needed to and come back tonight for pizza and music. I feel like I’m taking advantage of your good will, here, anyway. You should get to be here for the fun parts, too. This place makes the best five meat, four cheese pizza in San Diego and you know, there may be fudge if you play your cards right? You did pay off your student loans with your poker winnings, did you not?”

Veronica considered Mac’s offer. Under her father’s expert tutelage her skill at cards far exceeded her skill at love. It had been a long week, several shootings at the same time in different parts of the city and a lot of trauma and trajectories to review over and over. Veronica felt like a prospect for a long life in a bachelor apartment and eating a bullet when she retired, not at all like a woman looking for romance. But Mac was right, she needed to do her laundry and not worry about fudge.

Veronica had her dirty clothes in her car and the laundromat was around the corner. She’d just stuffed three of the double load machines, put in her soap and settled to read when Logan came in. He was carrying a clumpy navy-blue laundry bag and looked like he’d just woke up, his stubble at just the right length for maximum grungy perfection. When he saw her, he froze for a moment, almost in her headlights, and she automatically reached out to him, afraid he’d run like a rabbit. “Logan.” She said cheerfully.  
“Veronica.” He looked around the room, but the day was nice and the room was quiet. “Hi.” His smile was genuine.

Veronica was struck by how attractive he was and it rendered her speechless. As a private investigator and a police detective this was uncharted territory for her. Mac would never let her hear the end of it, if she ever knew. “Uh, hi.” He nodded pleasantly and went to load one of the washers. Veronica figured she’d made a horrible impression and bent over her book.

He sat next to her. “Um.” He said. “I noticed you keep on looking at those Fitzpatricks.” He pulled at his sleeves, which was noticeable because he always seemed confident to Veronica. “In the coffee shop, and I saw the big one flirting with you? They aren’t a good group to hang out with.” He said, finally. “You have no reason to trust me, but I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you that.” 

“It’s okay, I’m not taking him up on his offer.” Veronica looked at him, he still was pulling at his sleeves. Well, so much for him finding her cute, she should have known better. “How do you know them?”

“They were the ‘Big Bads’ in the town I grew up in. I knew this girl, she was looking for someone, walked in and almost got her face tattooed for her trouble. I managed to stop them with an empty gun Dick left in my car, pure stupid bravado. I couldn’t sleep for a week. Don’t know what happened to her. Later…”

“Later?” 

“Much later, in college, I ended up working for them for a while. During my drop out period.” Her gaze must have hardened because he turned defensive. “I didn’t sell drugs or guns or anything. That I knew of, anyway. I was kind of a mess, drank a lot, sort of was a bouncer in their bar. My Mom had killed herself and my Dad…well, I was a mess, that’s all. Just for a while. I thought they’d protect me from someone else, but …” His voice drifted off.

“But?” she prodded, taking his hand and stroking it, trying to loosen his fist. “They didn’t?”

He shook his head. “I beat this Russian mafia dude up, embarrassed him, at the end of my freshman year. Later he found me, beat the crap out of me with a group of his friends. I was in the hospital for a while, then I switched to school in LA.” He put his hand to his ribs, then dropped it back into hers.

“Are you still in trouble?” Veronica asked, squeezing his hand. Her laundry stopped and changed direction. 

“If I was I wouldn’t want to get you involved.” He said with one of those annoyingly paternal looks that men give women when they are small and cute. Veronica’s curse.

Veronica took any reactions out of her voice. “I’m a cop. I might really be able to help.”

“Really?” 

Something in her face must have given away something of her reaction.

“No, I believe you. Still, though, I’m not sure. They think I know something from back in college. They aren’t the big deal they were back then but some millions of dollars went missing once. I think around when Dick and I graduated High School. Dick’s dad had a trophy Mom, it had something to do with her.”

“Why would you know, then, why not Dick?”

“I was having sex with his mom?” Logan cringed back a little when he said that. “Also, Dick is my oldest friend but people don’t tell him secrets.”

“Fair enough.” Veronica certainly didn’t tell Dick her secrets.

“It was a while ago.” Logan said in a small voice and when she glanced up he batted his lashes, like a reflex.

They were a nice hazel and Veronica could see tiny Veronica’s reflected in their variegated depths and she thought ‘he’s a heartbreaker, for sure.’ She moved back a little to keep it professional and not to send him the message that she was falling for him. Which wasn’t true. “So, these aren’t the gang, these are the kids?” 

“The big guy, Patrick, named after his uncle. His cousins Lee and Bobby are the other sandy haired ones. The rest are just local thugs. Neptune local.” He raised his lashes and looked at her straight. “I don’t know anything about the money. Promise. I didn’t even see her when it all went down. I broke up with her after our prom. I haven’t seen her since, when Dick’s brother died I wasn’t anywhere near the place. Never saw the money or a painting, but they ‘put me on notice’. They think it is in an offshore account. I told them I didn’t know, even suggested Dick’s father. He’s living on something. They didn’t believe me.”

“You took her to the prom?” Responding to his stricken look, she grabbed his hands and stroked the back. He calmed down. “I’m sorry, it’s just an odd story. I shouldn’t focus on the prom. Things were quiet in my little town in Washington. My Dad’s the sheriff and, oh, honestly, some bad stuff happened to me too, Maybe I’m a little naive. Go on with your story.” 

“That’s it, really. I’m just afraid…”

“You don’t have to go back there.” Veronica said. “You don’t have to.”

“Well, they know Dick and Mac. Where we live.” Logan looked down. “I just, you should stay away before they connect us. I got beat up before. That sort of thing happens, Veronica, it shouldn’t happen to you.” 

“I’ll see if I can find something to help. I’ll be there, Logan.”

“It’s not safe.”

He looked worried. Worried and concerned and very handsome. Dammit.

“It will be okay.” She reassured him. “It really is just convincing them you don’t know. You don’t, right? So I’ll see what I can do.”

In a few hours Veronica was showered and wearing clean clothes. Frankly a nap would be helpful, but wasn’t going to happen. “Leo, thank you.” They sat at one of the tables and Veronica idly played with the spray-painted black falcon. “Do you believe this bird?” she asked. 

“Yes, I have no problem with finding the Maltese falcon in your childhood friend’s coffee and pizza emporium, but I’m deeply suspicious of the purple painted owl by the cash register.” Leo drank his latte. “The coffee’s good.”

“Of course it is, I made it. I’m from Washington, Leo. We make good coffee and we are always suspicious of owls.”

Your friend Dick’s poetry is outstanding, too. Really good stuff, Mars. I’m so glad we lost our gig in Sleezy’s, because … really, Veronica, I’m interested. Logan Echolls, of all people. Huh. Takes me back years. In high school he had some frequent jail miles, but I looked him up and he’s been clean for a while.”

“You’re not that much older than I am Leo, you sound like you’re fifty. Are you sure this is Maltese?” she ran a finger along the wing feathers. “I was thinking garage sale.”

“You really didn’t hear about all of this?”

“Yeah, I heard about Aaron Echolls killing that girl, only he was acquitted and then killed in his hotel room. I just had no idea Logan was his son. He didn’t tell me his last name, which makes sense. There was enough awkward in that conversation.”

“Especially when you have your eyes on a pretty girl, Mars.” Leo wagged his eyebrows. He looked around the room and then pointed at the stage. “Good sound system. I like the way the stage is set up over there. Think they need a band?” 

“Ask Mac.” Veronica pointed with her glance. “That’s the Fitz’s.” Mac’s shop let people bring their own bottles in the evening and the Fitz’s were sharing some beer.

“Yeah, spit and image of his Dad. Right bastard, as they say, but the resemblance is uncanny. Took the name? Swell. You do have your gun, Mars?”

She nodded, absently putting a piece of Logan’s fudge in her mouth. My god, he made good candy.

“I called this guy I know in the Sheriff’s office in Neptune, but no help there. The Sheriff is a real scumbag, a Neptune tradition. My buddy could tell me that Patrick runs his dad’s old bar, the River Styx, and that’s really it. It’s a dive, don’t get me wrong, but that’s about it. Brawls and people bring in drugs from other places. However, Mars …”

“Yes?”

“He told me the FBI had considered it and cleared your friend Logan, Dick’s dad did take the account with him. So, there isn’t anything for them to find here.”

“Logan is innocent. I can eat his fudge with a clear conscience.” Veronica took another piece.

“Uh, yeah. That’s the upside.” Leo took a piece. “It is good. Okay, so that’s the FBI over there, at the table under that fringed lampshade? They’re going to pick up the Fitz’s for questioning after their pizza. They should make it clear to even those idiots that Echolls knows nothing. So, where is your new boyfriend?”

“He’s not …(sigh) I haven’t seen him. Look, I should go look for Mac, anyway, I think she’s back in the kitchen somewhere. I’ll see what’s happening.”

Mac was at the pizza ovens talking to Dick, it looked business like. Logan was lounging by the refrigerators talking to a pretty waitress. He looked absorbed in her. Veronica gathered her courage and swallowed her disappointment. “Logan, can I talk to you a minute?”

He turned and smiled, then caught some look in her face. “Is everything all right.”

“Yes, you’re clear and ….” She pulled him back into a hallway for a minute. “I won’t keep him from you for long.” She told the brunette.

“I’m Pam. No, it’s fine, I have to get to work. Later, handsome. Save some fudge for me” She smiled up at Logan and scampered off. 

Veronica frowned when she wagged her butt as she left. She turned to Logan.“It’s okay, turns out the FBI was looking for them, when they are finished the Fitz’s won’t suspect you. So, do I get some fudge for this?”

“Girls only want me for my candy. So, Deputy Leo is your boyfriend?” Logan asked.

“Deputy Leo? Oh, Detective Leo, he’s my partner on the force.” Logan brightened and snaked a hand around her, not touching but leaning over and she felt a mixture of irritation and arousal. She disliked being loomed over. She looked around and pushed herself up on a stainless steel table so she could look him in the eyes. “What about Pam?”

“Huh.” His eyes widened. ‘Huh? I just met her. She wants my candy, like you.” His looked down and then he glanced at her quickly, guilty. “Sorry.” He started to move away.

“I’d like to get to know you better.” She offered, feeling unusually brave. 

“Really?” He brightened. “Please.”

“Oh, yes. You have eyes like chocolate.”

He batted them at her.

“I have to share a pizza with Leo. Want to join us and convince him you’re no longer a reprobate?”

“Is he telling you tales of my misspent youth?”

“I’m afraid so, but we could go out later.” 

He quickly moved in for a kiss before she could move back. Smooth as melted chocolate.


	14. Tiny (Veronica/Logan)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out Tiny isn't dangerous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own these characters

Tiny

“I’m off to see Tiny.” Veronica grabbed her car keys from the table on the kitchen counter and stopped to fill her stainless steel mug with coffee. The sun wasn’t up yet.

Behind her, out of sight, Logan stiffened and then deliberately relaxed. “Do I know ‘Tiny’?”

Veronica stopped pouring for a fraction of a second and then smiled. “Nope.”

“Need me to come with you?” Logan casually came up behind her, lifted her hair and kissed the back of her neck.”

“Trust me, Tiny is no danger to me. I Gotta go.”

She bounced out of the apartment, screwing the lid on her cup. 

Logan watched her ponytail bounce out the door and thought that she looked no more than fifteen.

Veronica was waiting for her contact, Joe, to give her some information from the San Diego Mayor’s office. She kept to the shadows as a reflex, although this was an open, legal transaction. It turns out that sometimes writing an investigative article was a good way of keeping busy when the PI business was slow, and Joe’s morning run was right near Mac’s apartment. He’d texted her as she was getting in the car. Fear shot adrenaline through her when she heard someone sneaking up behind her. She moved and after a pause the footsteps followed her. She couldn’t see anything so she changed position several times. She walked down the asphalt walkway, considering her options. She was being followed. Her car was too far to run to, whoever it was would have time to catch her and no one was around. She stopped to lure her stalker in, ducked down when the footsteps were close, turned around and hit up with both hands made into fists, using the large muscles of her legs to strengthen the blow. She recognized the grunt. 

“Fuck, don’t sneak up on me. I’m sorry. Damn, Logan. Say something when you’re following a girl.” She took off her sweatshirt, so he could hold it against his bleeding nose.

“I just wanted to hang out with you to make sure you were safe.” He said, a little sullenly.

“Apparently you don’t think I can defend myself?” 

“Next time I’ll announce myself. Fuck, Veronica.” 

After Veronica texted Joe to set up another time to meet she drove Logan to the emergency room where they had his nose taped.

“Want to come with me to meet Tiny?” she asked when she stopped at a red light. The sun was up. “I’m stopping for coffee and pastries.”

“You weren’t waiting for Tiny?” Logan rubbed at his nose. It wasn’t a bad break and he did have a couple of weeks off for it to heal.

“No, Tiny is Mac’s new kitten. Cutest thing.” She saw his face. “Oh, you are so coming with me, enough of you avoiding my friends.”


	15. Mirror (Lilly and Veronica)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lilly and Veronica discuss weddings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own these characters

Mirror

“So, Lilly, can they see your wedding dress in a mirror? If they don’t turn around?” Veronica was helping Lilly with something Lilly called a ‘wedding album’. She would have asked her own mother what one was but Liane having one of her mid-afternoon naps, followed by a late afternoon headache. Veronica also admitted to herself she was afraid her mother would go all creepy about it. Veronica wasn’t completely convinced about marriage.

“Yes, Veronica, that’s it. They can watch you in a mirror but if they turn around they go straight back to hell.”

“And have to marry Dick?”

“Dick is lord of the underworld?”

“Lord of the underwear." she snorted. "I figured maybe they’d just turn back into frogs. Lilly, is this something normal girls do? Cause all of this cutting and pasting is pretty involved.”

“Have I ever been normal, Ronnie? Maybe, I got the idea from Meg. Here, glue this in….”

“Also, this is pretty tasteless. Wouldn’t you want something simpler? And how much would this hotel room cost?”

“I’m rich, Veronica, and you will marry someone rich and we can be rich together. You will be a famous singer and I will be a famous …” Lilly smiled. “Courtesan.”

“I don’t think that’s a good job in real life, Lil. What is this little pile of heads?”

“My goal is to piss off Celeste when she finds this. But we are going to do a serious one for you. Those are my bridegrooms.”

“Logan, ok. Felix? Weevil? Casey? You’ve got everyone in … did you cut up the entire yearbook?”

“Not the whole yearbook.” Lilly carefully glued lace on the edge of one of the pages. “Here, I got another scrapbook for you. 

“Can’t I use yours?”

“I’ll have you know this is a highly personal document. Oh, I’m going to do a page of getting married to Weevil on motorcycles. Think I can find a cake shaped like a … hey, Veronica, what’s the name of part of a car engine?”

Veronica sighed.


	16. Gift (Logan/Veronica)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica's birthday is coming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own these characters

Gift

Logan came home late from work, well after dark, and he’d eaten on the way home. he was surprised when it was quiet in the apartment, lights out except for a warm pool of yellow next to the bed. Veronica’s head lolled to the side, her kindle on her chest. He couldn’t tell if she’d been reading a Norwegian mystery or a textbook on lockpicking. He shook his head and stripped in the bathroom as quietly as he could, brushing his teeth and slipping into bed. She’d just finished a big case and needed her rest, she had dark circles under her eyes and he found her dozed off over her desk at work, which was a bad sign. He didn’t want her getting sick before her birthday. 

She woke up when he got into bed, smiled sleepily and snuggled under his arm.

From where he lay if the place looked clean enough, maybe she hadn’t been looking for her gift. Christ, it was worse than a kid on Christmas, or so he’d heard. He wouldn’t have dared tempt Aaron’s wrath hunting for gifts, but he could imagine Veronica being so cute she could get away with anything. Veronica at four, probably picking the lock to the hall closet and unwrapping everything and rewrapping them just the same, but Keith would know because he’d done something with the tape. They were always trying to catch each other. Sometimes he wondered of a child would ever trust him like Veronica trusted Keith, but they hadn’t talked about it yet. Maybe on this vacation he’d planned, they could talk about a lot of things. It wasn’t really her fault, mostly it was his fault, he hadn’t been around much since he came back, and they were just figuring out things.

He’d conspired with Mac to hide the evidence at her apartment. Keith and Mac really didn’t like plotting with him against Veronica, but they agreed she needed a vacation. He had to take her somewhere far away or she’d keep on checking in, too. Bora Bora was probably far enough, he thought. He might have to hide her phone. Or, and here is a thought. Maybe he could trust her enough to just talk to her about it? He looked down at the way her hair covered her face and felt sleep pushing his eyelids down and kissed the parts of her he could easily reach. Things to talk about tomorrow.


	17. Scar (Logan)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan thinks about his scars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own these characters  
> mentions of canon abuse

Scars

He spent enough time talking to people in rehab and through college. Individual counselors had touched on getting his scars removed. “Not even possible” he told them. That was true enough, even the most expensive plastic surgeons would leave a feather’s kiss of memory, a white shadow of the scar. It was better to live with them.

In college he studied hard and avoided sex in favor of hard exercise. Sex he imbibed too young, with chasers of stolen liquor and he left both drugs in the past. Love confused him and he concentrated on becoming someone whose present outshone his past. If someone mentioned the gnarly cigarette burns on his wrist, the burn on his palm, he shrugged and said “an accident with fireworks.” At least he wore t-shirts in college and kept them firmly on his back in public.

His father had set the cigarettes to his wrist and forearms. The scar on his palm he got burning the tapes of Lilly and Aaron before the trial. His father had been acquitted then, his fault. Not a scar to be proud of but one he’d earned.

In the Navy he assumed most people googled his name, learned the reason for the scars and ignored them. ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ was Logan’s watchword. He listened to their stories of women, thought about his mother. Did he want someone like her to protect? Like Trina? Had she poisoned Trina with her helplessness or had Trina learned it being weak for their father, to make Aaron happy? Is that what killed his mother? Worst thought, had he wanted Lilly and Veronica weak so he could be strong? Like Aaron?

Logan sat in the Sheriff’s office after Carrie died and rubbed the scar on his left palm with the thumb of his right hand.

It felt like home.


	18. Calm (Veronica/Logan, Tiny Pi, Mac)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sequel to chapter 14 'Tiny'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own these characters

Calm

Succumbing to pain medication, Logan lay on Mac’s floor, asleep. He was wearing a pink hospital t-shirt in place of the bloody Navy shirt wadded in the back of Veronica’s car, nose taped and eyes bruised. Mac’s black kitten, Tiny Pi, sat on his chest listening intently to his snores, like a dog attending a Victrola. Occasionally he emitted a high-pitched whistle and she reached out a paw and patted his cheek. 

Veronica was shooting a video with her phone. Mac sat back on the black leather couch watching them. “Best cat toy ever.” She mouthed at Veronica. 

“Best blackmail ever!” Veronica mouthed back. She shot some still pictures.

Logan brushed the kitten with his hand and Tiny Pi purred urgently until he quieted and then rewarded him with a stroke on the cheek. 

“She can’t keep him.” Veronica put the phone on the arm of the couch and hugged her legs. “I found him first.”

“Yeah, and he’s not in my lease. If he’s housebroken he can visit.”

“How can you even ask?” Tiny Pi licked his chin. “I may need to borrow her occasionally to turn away wrath.”

“I’ll make up a rate sheet.” At Veronica’s look, Mac added “Hey, Pi gets a little older she’ll need wheels and a pair of bitchin’ boots.”

“Two pairs.” Veronica flipped the box open and looked at the remaining pastries, closed it. “She does seem to have a calming influence. May as well bank on it.” She hiked her right hip up, dug a small switchblade from her pocket, and flicked it in and out.

Mac took the knife, examined it, and put it on the table next to the scones and crullers. “Is Pony happy to have him back?” 

Veronica put the knife back in her pocket. “Yeah, she was so excited when she smelled and heard him. She knocked him over and both of them rolled around on the floor like two pups in a pit. Dogs in a dugout? It’s different, though. When he left, she’d decided he was HER Person and I was the nice person who lived with her person. Now, the other way around.” Veronica took a sip of lukewarm latte. “I told my Dad once that the hero is the one that stays.” She pried off the lid and peered inside sadly. “It’s been sixteen months since the reunion and he’s been around about four total. It feels like it should be a longer relationship than it is, and one with more sex.” 

“He’s around for a while, though? Hey, we can make some more coffee in the kitchen. Don’t you guys Skype?”

“He’s doing some training in Florida in a few weeks, if they let him do it with the broken nose. Then …” Veronica shrugged. “I would like, I don’t know. I think he needs to stay in Florida if he can, for the next couple of years, then more deployment. So, back for what? Vacation, Christmas. I got this from the woman who is helping with Pony’s training. Logan hasn’t …We need to talk about it, but yeah, it seems too soon to discuss some things. Skype is hard, too, it doesn’t seem real, somehow. It’s all fits and starts and jerky expressions.” She ran her finger over the pattern on the travel mug, blinking. “Coffee?”

“Sure, come on. We’ll let them sleep.” The kitten had curled under Logan’s chin and was dozing off.

“You moving to Florida?” Mac waved her hand between her moka pot and her drip pot and Veronica gestured at the Chemex. Mac set water to boil. Both of them stared at the teakettle, like two friends sitting around a campfire considering the future. Mac poured boiling water in the filter, letting the grounds expand. 

There was a long enough silence, so she could pour again before Veronica answered: “No, I just haven’t figured it out.”

Logan woke up to an empty room. He heard the soft sound of conversation from the next room, a melody without words. He pushed himself to sitting. It had been a while since he felt this way, fuzzy headed and sick to his stomach, hung over from the meds. He didn’t miss it.

He cupped the tiny kitten in his hand and stroked her; she yawned sleepily, rolled over and stretched all four legs, spreading her toes. He could see her sharp, transparent claws. “You are so young.” He had never held a baby, she might be the youngest thing he had ever been entrusted with and he found her charming. She nipped his thumb affectionately and snuggled into the crook of his arm. 

Veronica looked out of the kitchen and smiled. “Want something?” she asked.

“Water?” 

She brought him the water, sinking down next to him and holding out the glass. “One of Mac’s antique, lead painted Burger King Batman glasses. Fine geek crystal.” 

“I’m honored.” Logan handed the glass back to her so she could put it on the table and tugged on her arm until she sat next to him, backs against the loveseat. 

“Logan, I’m so sorry.” She touched the side of his face gently. “I never want to hurt you. You look ….”

“Devilishly handsome? I’m betting I look icky. I feel kind of icky.”

“You want to go home? We have to leave Tiny here. But I feel so guilty I’ll wait on you hand and foot.” 

Logan looked sadly at the kitten, who purred loudly. “I know. I’m not much of a guest right now.”

“Tiny seems pleased.” The purring intensified. 

“So, my wish is your command?” he leered, then winced.

“Within reason.”


	19. Black Coffee(sequel to 'Candy') still a coffee shop AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Black Coffee  
> A sequel to Candy, a coffee shop AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own these characters

Sometime mid-morning, first Monday in October

Dick was wearing boxers, an eyepatch and the hopeful expression of someone who was tired of paperwork. “Pirate. Aarrh.” 

“Pants.” Mac didn’t need to look up from the invoices. She held out one of the big stoneware cups from the set Corny gave them when they got married. “Then more coffee, please.” Dick put the cup on the table and pulled her back into an extended, dramatic kiss. “Aarrh.” He said, licking his lips. “Black Coffee means you’re working too hard.”

Their apartment above the coffee shop was a loft, mostly open except for bedroom, guestroom and bath. Separate from the living space was a huge room used as a workshop. The kitchen was open and industrial looking, although they didn’t have much time to cook. Mac was sitting at one of the dining room tables made by attaching wire legs to a wooden door and topping the door with thick glass, papers spread in front of her.

Dick put the cup on the table and pulled her back into an extended, dramatic kiss. “Aarrh.” He licked his lips and took a deep breath. “I’m going back in.” 

Her “Dick!” was muffled and then lost when she returned the kiss, throwing her arms around his neck.

Encouraged, Dick picked her up. “To my lair!” he exclaimed as he carried her to the bedroom.

An hour later Mac luxuriantly rubbed against him, gasping at one of the aftershocks. 

Dick kissed her and put on a serious face. “Did Logan come through for Halloween?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. The school is going to have their classic horror movie festival here, all weekend, matinee and evening. He finished installing the seats in the theater, with the students, and The fire inspectors are coming to check out the theater tonight.” 

“I never thought of Logan as a teacher.” 

“It is just one class, but he’s enjoying it and the new business he’s opened with his friends. I’m really starting to like him. This attached theater is going to be a lot of fun, and with his connections to the film school our Halloween film programs will be a real draw.” She thought. “That sounds like I like him because he’s good for the business. That isn’t it, he seems to be a good person, Dick. You’re lucky to have him as a friend.”

“I know, yeah, but he needs something to take his mind off Veronica. I told you she was trouble.” Dick frowned. “I know she’d your friend, baby, but look how hard this is on him. He’s pining, pining, Mac! He’s lost weight. What if he goes back on drugs? She even moved in with him next door and now...”

“She’s undercover, Dick. He knows that. She’s with Leo, they’ll keep each other safe. He wouldn’t go back on drugs, would he?” Mac wanted to sound sure about it, but she didn’t know Logan that well. She’d have to make more of an effort, she decided. For both Veronica and Dick.

“She was supposed to be back last month, and Leo broke up with his girlfriend. Maybe they ran off together. Or their dead, some gangster thing, shot and sunk in the ocean. You know, concrete belts. You never knew him when he was doing that shit, Mac.”

“Boots, Dick, are you reading …. Never mind. They’re fine and she loves Logan. They’ll be back soon. Try to reassure him instead of making up horror stories. We’ll invite him over for dinner tonight, see if we can get him to eat.”

Next door Logan stood looking sadly at the bedroom and then went in and straightened the duvet. She liked to have the duvet straightened just so. 

He was dressed professionally in a beautifully textured silk/wool suit. He had shaved twice and used Veronica’s favorite aftershave. His hair had been trimmed the day before and he’d splurged on a manicure. His nails had taken a beating installing the third hand wooden theater chairs. His first meeting of the day was a job interview to do the editing for a top notch independent movie. The whole team would be there and getting this contract would mean a lot for their fledgling business.

Unlike many men his age he was comfortable in a suit, he’d had early training standing around at all sorts of events not looking bored, courtesy of his famous parents. He was a little worried at how the suit fit, though. Dick was right, he has lost weight. Maybe it was not having any candy. Since Veronica left he was unable to make it, the few times he tried it crystalized on him. She was his sweet muse, but she’d been gone for almost four months and he was afraid he’d lost her, either to her handsome partner or worse, dead somewhere and he’d never know what happened. 

He felt the familiar dead weight on his heart and the apple he’d eaten for breakfast felt like a lump of hot lead in his stomach. He walked over to the nightstand, opened the top drawer and touched a fingertip to the only thing there, a velvet ring box. If only she would come back, he could give it to her. He needed her to come back. He needed her to come back now.

He stood near the entrance, unplugging his charged laptop and putting it in his leather backpack. His document folder was already in there and his calendar, which he liked to keep on paper. No lunch today, Veronica would make him the best lunches with love notes in them, not every day, but he missed them every day they weren’t there, every single day. He’d get the people downstairs to fill his cup on the way out. Like the true son of actors, he forced his face into a smile and opened the door. “Mac!” She looked him over quickly, and while she wasn’t anyone’s mother yet, he could see how she’d be a scary mother in the future.

“Logan, hey?” A little breathless. “Glad I caught you. Can you come over for dinner tonight around seven? We have a new video game and all of us eat too much pizza. We’ll have real food.” She hugged him, feeling under his suit, frowning a little when her small hands ran over his ribs.

He nodded. “Yeah, thanks. Any special reason?”

“No.” she said, letting go of him, examining his face. “Just want to see you. Later!”

Logan watched her go back to her apartment, thinking: I need to pull myself together. I must look worse than I thought.

Later that day, somewhere on the Pacific Ocean

Veronica was really upset with this never-ending assignment. This was four months away from her apartment, her friends, her Logan. Three months establishing her cover, making friends and contacts, redirecting undocumented women away from the predators that wanted to use them badly, learning more about the drug trade along the coast of Southern California than she’d ever wanted to know. One month dealing on this casino boat, waiting for the big exchange to go down. The one where they found out who the contacts were, the ones from South America. Honestly this time on the boat was the killer, no fun at all.

She’d been able to make a few calls to her Dad and to Logan at first, when the operation was fairly new and then she couldn’t get away to make those calls. She was proud of her work, proud of what she could do and the number of people she could save, but she knew they would be scared for her.

Logan had become important to her in the time they’d been together. It wasn’t just the scent of his aftershave, the feel of his large hands, his fingers teasing her nipples and spreading her vagina. It wasn’t only the taste and feel of his penis when she swirled her tongue around the tip or the weight of it between the circle of her fingers. Not only the effortless strength he used to move her on top of him, or the way his mouth and tongue drove her to incoherent babbling. 

Veronica missed so much more than sex. She missed running outside, running with Logan next to her, in the mornings, although there were a couple of treadmills for off duty staff and she got some exercise. She missed waking up next to him, cooking for him, having him cook for her. Making him coffee, going to movies with him and hearing him explain how the effects were done later. Learning how to surf on the weekends. Teaching him martial arts. Having him hold her after she’d seen something horrible on her job. Going to parties with him and having him tell her she was the prettiest girl in a room full of movie stars, even if it wasn’t true. It was the times he rubbed her back or she gave him foot rubs, paying attention to each toe, or the times she would wake up and relax when she realized he was there with his arms around her. She worried he would find someone else while she was gone, that he would think she was gone for good. Half of the time she worried about that. The other half she worried about him. She was so hopelessly in love with him.

She stood at the railing, taking some air before she started her shift at the Casino. It was dusk, almost dark and overcast. In the distance seven or eight people without much luggage climbed into a smaller boat and headed towards the casino boat. Veronica didn’t expect to see a name on the distant boat, although she could see the port lights. There was a fleet of these boats out here and she would help bring them down. She scanned the rest of the horizon and saw something in the other direction, another boat. She reached down and tapped out a quick message on the buzzer on her the garter with the glittering poker chip. 

Casino boats aren’t legal of the west coast, although they operate off Florida and New York. This boat was a big no in and of itself, but that wasn’t the worst part. The San Diego PD and the DEA were working together after the disappearance of a couple of young women. They were sure the boat was operating a side business in human trafficking and drugs. She’d seen evidence of a sex trade and a lot of drugs. They were expecting a big event. A group of women were in the hold and she was expecting an exchange of women for drugs soon, maybe tonight. She’d planted cameras in the halls around the women. The DEA could get to them in under an hour if Leo gave the signal.

Meanwhile, months away from her friends and boyfriend. Not even thinking about her Dad, he’d be worried sick, but it wasn’t even exciting most of the time. This past month had been nasty.  
It turned out Leo was useless on a boat, with his tendency to sea sickness. In fairness he was better in the engine rooms (his job, which gave him access to the lower levels) near the heart of the ship and the medication helped. Her job, dealing in the casino, was a lot more social. She had a book to write on sexual harassment and general bad manners if she ever made it home. The Mars book of Dreck. Meanwhile, Leo and Veronica pretended a romantic liaison that let them get together during their off hours and limited the crew to grabbing her butt and making crude comments. The passengers were a livelier group and touched anything they could grab.

Back in San Diego, Logan’s plans change

Logan really was looking forward to dinner with Dick and Mac, but he had to cancel by the early afternoon. The Production group insisted on taking the whole film editing company to some sort of exciting, illegal off shore casino boat. Logan was sure Veronica wouldn’t approve, being a cop and all, and since he no longer used alcohol or drugs Logan had a pretty good idea this would get boring fast. He tried to sneak off a few times but the only woman producer in the group insisted the deal was off if he didn’t go, insisted in a way that promised a long night of inappropriate advances. He realized that the two men had their eyes on his two female coworkers, he couldn’t leave them to face this alone, either. He had to go. 

By four in the afternoon everyone in the group was fuzzy around the edges and he was reading a downloaded book on his phone, by six they were getting off their boat into a smaller craft to be ferried to the casino boat. Mel, the woman, was jumping with excitement and he had to pull her down by main strength and sit her down next to him. He put an arm around her, so she wouldn’t swamp the boat and she squealed in pleasure and slobbered on his neck. In front of him the fat, sixtyish producer, George, was working his writhing fingers down Alana’s back and into the waistband of her pants. Tina was talking to the younger producer Pete Snew, a mile a minute, about something which might have been an STD she couldn’t shake. He would buy Tina lunch if they got over it, she was quick on her feet. He realized she hadn’t been drinking with the others, either. Maybe one glass of wine with lunch before it became obvious what was happening. Thank god.

The group managed to get on the bigger boat without mishap and Logan untangled himself from Mel, handing her hand into the extended hand of the uniformed casino employee. The neck of his suit was wet with her drool. Really, the woman exuded classlessness. He turned to give Tina a hand and a supportive hand squeeze while Alana and George climbed aboard, followed by Pete and then Tina. Logan tried to take in the place as he brought up the rear. He’d never been on a casino boat, although he’d spent a few days fending for himself in fancy houses while his Dad gambled, and his mother drank. 

Reflexively he took the glass of champagne someone handed him, walking through the Casino door, turned to find a place to put it down and saw Veronica in front of him. The small blonde was a red head now, wearing something short, revealing, but recognizable as part of the boats uniform. His mouth fell open and he started to move toward her when she jerked her head to the side. Right. Undercover. Crap. He looked around and reluctantly looked for his group. Tina and Alana knew Veronica, but maybe they wouldn’t notice. Alana was several sheets to the wind and Tina had her hands full. He placed the full champagne glass on the tray of a passing server. 

Veronica, like all the dealers, wore an earphone and microphone so she could get messages about different players from the casino managers in the rooms that had a view of the casino. There was a quick message telling them that they were docking with another boat, it wasn’t important, and she should tell the marks if they asked about it. So, this was the night it happens, and the night Logan shows up, what the fuck? She noticed with relief when Logan put down the champagne and she almost lost it when the woman he caught up to rubbed up against him like a bitch in heat. Logan peeled her of and directed her to one of the seats at a table. He helped the rest to their seats and looked around the room, his eyes barely snagging on her. She was looking at him like a lovesick seal pup and forced herself to look away. 

She went back to her table and bent to her work. It went well, she spotted one of her guys cheating and security picked him up, she earned an extra break which she took outside on the deck. Since she usually took her breaks outside (some dealers just went to the bar) no one thought anything of it. She stood in the shadows, and coughed when Logan came out, lighting a cigarette. He turned to her. She knew he didn’t smoke, so he must be using it for an excuse to see her. He looked thinner and pale, she wondered if she needed to worry about him.

“Uh.” Logan wasn’t sure what to call her, if she was undercover. She was beautiful, although her makeup was heavier and cruder than usual, more mascara, more foundation and he didn’t like the outfit she was wearing in front of all those men. When he got her home she was wearing one of those, no, he’d never get her to do it and he didn’t want to make her feel like she shouldn’t be beautiful. He was going to stay close to her, though, to fight the men off. He wondered if anyone new was touching her beautiful…gall bladder. Yeah, gall bladder. He stood up straight. Gall bladder. His hardon subsided a little and he could breath. 

It was obvious to Veronica she’d have to be the one to start the conversation. “Hi, big boy. Call me ‘Pussy’.”

“Why Pussy?” Logan choked out, biting the inside of his cheeks to keep from laughing. He looked down at her sternly, but he couldn’t maintain it and grinned.

“Because I’m a bobcat in bed.” She bumped him with her hip. “And it’s what I’m called here. Catherine. Cat. Pussy.” She looked around, turned and pushed him into the shadow, making a soft sexy purr. “What are you doing here?” she whispered, breathing in his aftershave, panting.

“I’ve missed my Bobcat.” She was using the same shampoo, he could smell it. Rosemary and mint. Her eyes were dilated. There was a flush on her cheeks. She looked happy to see him and she was never living down that name. Bobcat fit, but where the hell had she got it? She made that sound when she came? “The people I’m with brought us here, some sort of celebration for giving us some work. I didn’t want to go, but I didn’t know you were here.” He grabbed a quick kiss.

“Well stay safe, I think something may be happening tonight. Just stay safe.” She hugged him. There was a clank, their ship hitting the side of another ship. “I think something may be happening now. Go inside.” She paused, sussing out the buzzes coming from her garter. Leo had called the DEA. The dangerous part would be when they arrived, fifteen minutes, and hour, however long it took and arrested everyone on the boat. Dammit, Logan. She sent a quick message to Leo. “Disarm.”  
“What are you going to do?” Serious, not moving. “If I need to stay safe, so do you.”

Yeah, she remembered he might not take direction well. “Find Leo. Look, Logan, they are going to want to arrest everyone here, the gambling is illegal, running the off shore ship is illegal, a lot of stuff is illegal. So, this wasn’t a good time to … um… visit.”  
“I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to leave Alana and Tina alone and …” He took a deep breath. “We needed the job. I’ll tell you later.”

“It will be all right.”

“Will you be safe?” 

“Yeah, I need to take out some of the boat’s defenses.” The owners of the boat had rigged a self-destruct sequence. One of these boats had blown up out here about a year ago. They lost customers, but the people here today were, well, not a party of senators, not a group who was celebrating the completion of an A list summer blockbuster. No, this boat was expendable if it saved the rest of the fleet.

“Can I help?” He rubbed the cigarette out under his shoe, and she was grateful for that. 

“So, you smoke now?”

“An excuse to get to see you. See, I have mad spy skills.” He wagged his eyebrows. 

She shook her head, laid hers against his. “I love you. Just let me do this.” Logan is not expendable. Leo is not expendable.

She’d studied before she got on the boat, but couldn’t disconnect them at leisure because the security team checked them frequently. Her thigh buzzed again, and she held up a hand to quiet what Logan was about to say. Leo had disconnected two of the explosives and he’d been caught, as his girlfriend she would be suspect. “Go back in.” she shoved Logan, roughly. There were two more to go and she had to get to them first. I have to hurry.

Early Evening in San Diego

Dick had worked on making some delicious fall pizzas. Pumpkin Ricotta, sage and dried cranberry with and without turkey pepperoni was a favorite, as was butternut squash and shredded gouda and smoked turkey. He was working the pizza ovens while the other cooks looked on.

Mac had been looking for him, she’d searched the building, even knocked on Logan’s door, but of course he wasn’t there. “Hey Dick? Why don’t you let these guys work, your weeks shifts start tomorrow?”

“You know.” 

“I’m worried, too, but he’s with people from work and he said he didn’t have any choice. He’ll be back later tonight, and we’ll see him tomorrow. Also, more coffee, Dick?”

“Pumpkin Rootibos Chai Latte.” He said. “Tea.” 

“Good. Grab us a couple of those pizzas and I’ll get a Pumpkin Rootibos Chai Latte for myself and we’ll go upstairs and play that game, even without Logan.”

“OK.” Mac was usually right. 

And Back on the Boat 

The easiest one of the explosives for Veronica to get to was in one of the lifeboats near the casino. She used a tiny flashlight to disable it quickly. The remaining one was the smallest and the weakest and the people in the casino might survive the explosion. She was small and most of the people who checked the explosives were too large to really get into that particular space. She’d been able to remove parts of it and throw them into the ocean and it was weaker than it should be. She emerged from under the lifeboat, throwing the timer into the ocean, when two big men grabbed her, one on each side. 

“Hi, pussycat.” Derick was 225 pounds and a former linebacker, and Jackhammer resembled his name. Both of them were guys she knew pretty well, they weren’t being mean to her but they weren’t going to let her go. They held her above the ground and easily avoided her attempts to kick them. They took her to the front, probably to throw her in with Leo. She screamed like a madwoman, realizing that a crowd of confused people couldn’t make it worse and they’d still be safe near the front. 

Logan saw them from the door of the casino. Fuck this he thought to himself. He didn’t think of himself as a hero, but he was damned if he was going to lose his love, his soulmate? Because he was too afraid to do anything. Honestly, he didn’t think at all, he just moved after them, unable to let them take her away. He quietly followed them, which was easy enough because Veronica had started to scream and when he held open the door other people came out to see what was happening. Security figures from inside the Casino herded them back in but Logan slipped away. He wasn’t dressed for stealth, in hard soled shoes and a medium gray dress suit, but he was fast and agile and he did sand the soles of his shoes, which he wore for work and not dancing. He got behind them, still under cover of her screams, and almost ran into them when she stopped screaming abruptly. She dangled sickeningly between the two heavy men. 

“Put her in with the others if you didn’t kill her.” A man’s voice, someone in charge. “She’ll make a good whore. Tell them she’s a bonus.” The two men abruptly turned to the left.

Logan was uncertain what to do next when the man abruptly said: “You.” Yes, it was addressed to Logan. “This is an awkward problem. I don’t recognize you, wait, you’re from the Hollywood group, right? Came on today. Yeah, sorry, that was …. One of our dealers, she was caught trying to steal money. We have a little jail we’ll keep her in until we get to shore. You should go back to the Casino, I’ll tell them to expect…”

Three boats with bright lights appeared surrounding them and the sound of helicopters could be heard in the distance, coming closer. 

Logan jumped him. He had the advantage at first, but he hadn’t taken the Captain’s gun into account. 

Veronica woke up in a dimly lit room with a large group of women, her head hurt, and she had a bad scrape on one leg, which she later realized was from being thrown into the room. One of the women was cradling her head and saying something in Spanish that Veronica, who knew Spanish because it really helped with her job, had trouble understanding. The world was fuzzy, but she was really worried about Logan and Leo.  
There was an explosion. She leapt unsteadily to her feet and ran to the door but the guards didn’t let her out. 

Back in San Diego

Mac and Dick came to the hospital. Veronica was being released earlier than Logan and Leo although they had kept her overnight because of her head injury. Logan had surgery to remove the bullet and had a plate in his arm and Leo had some small broken bones and other trauma. Logan’s co workers had gotten off without any injury at all, most of the people in the casino had been fine unless they did something dumb. It sounded like the producers of the movie would still give Logan’s group the job, although she wasn’t sure Logan should work for scum. 

“Mac. Thank you for staying with me.” Veronica said. “And for holding my hand during that talk with my Dad. I thought he’d have a heart attack the way he was going on and on and on. He’s going to expect me for Thanksgiving now.”

“So, if you can’t have coffee Dick discovered this Pumpkin Rootibos Chai Latte thing that is really good. I’m going home, too, for Thanksgiving. Probably close the coffee shop for a few days, too. We can travel together. Will you take Logan?”

“Of course, Dad needs to meet him. I can’t have coffee? Maybe just a small black espresso.”

“Just a small black coffee.” Mac said. “Once we get you home, but they said you needed to rest.”

When they got to the apartment Dick insisted on going in first and for some reason he ran into the bedroom and came back. “All clear.” He said. 

Veronica looked at him oddly. 

A few hours later she was tired again. Mac was staying outside, blankets laid out on one of the couches. Her phone rang.

“Hi, Bobcat.” 

She purred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This got away from me, there is still another part to go before this is finished.


	20. Travel (Veronica and Wallace)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica and Wallace talk over food

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own these characters

Wallace sat across from Veronica, at their table on the quad of Neptune High. It was unusually warm, even for September in Southern California and the two of them were enjoying an early food break. Veronica was scheduled to meet some clients at one, Wallace started work at 7 AM and by 10 AM he was ready for food. Veronica laid out a pile of breakfast burritos, two lattes and a bag of donut holes. Until they had each eaten two burritos and drank some coffee, they ate in silence.

“I saw a news report about that group you were with, building houses in Haiti.” Veronica said. “Good stuff, Supafly.” He nodded around a donut hole. A small group of students started to come out of the school, carrying trays, the start of the rush, but they kept a little distance from the teacher. A group in basketball jerseys looked at them with open curiosity, but from a distance. “The new ones always wonder who your blonde girlfriend is.”

Wallace swallowed and wiped sugar from the corner of his mouth. “Yeah, Monica’s bringing lunch tomorrow, that will confuse them even more.” He grinned. “They don’t need to understand my private life.”

“And it looks a lot more exciting than it is, Wallace.”

“Uh, yeah.” Monica was an old friend from Hearst who now worked at Pan High, in the newspaper department and taught English Lit. Wallace was working on the newspaper at Neptune this year and secretly had a project going with her intended to improve the newspapers at both schools. He also talked Veronica into talking to the group about taking better pictures with their cell phone cameras and she was working out the details with him. Can’t say she didn’t owe him some favors.

“Want to see my sports bra?” Veronica made as if to lift her shirt.

“Nah, been there. Done that.”

“So, when we first met you wanted to travel, remember? What happened to that?”

“I got to live in San Francisco and New York.” Veronica said brightly. “In the past year I’ve been to Nevada and Arizona and Tijuana and ….” She thought. “You want a real answer, don’t you?”

Wallace nodded. 

“Money. Tuition. School loans. Stay near Hunter. Stay near my dad. Money to pay Mac. Kind of stuck. Can’t really take time off, even when Logan’s back.” She shrugged. 

“Are you jealous of Logan?”

“He doesn’t really travel. I thought about taking news photos once, meet the people in the war zones. That would be interesting. He’s mostly on a boat, maybe gets to get off in some port and stay in the area designated for rest and recreation. Or he gets shot down, I suppose, but those aren’t ideal circumstances, either. That’s not really travel. But you want a serious answer." She bit her lower lip. “Yes, sometimes I’d like the illusion of movement.”


	21. Surf (Veronica and Hunter)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica and Hunter take a surfing lesson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own these characters

Surf

Hunter was visiting Veronica and the two of them were at the beachtaking surfing lessons, as a present for his ninth birthday. The surf instructor, a kid she didn’t know, seemed amused by the two of them and Veronica could see it. They were both small for their age and when they concentrated on standing on the boards propped on the stand they both wore identical expressions. They made arrangements to come back the next day.

Later they treated themselves to more sunblock, followed by tacos and soda. 

“If Logan surfed, how come you never learned how to surf?” Hunter asked.

Veronica’s usual answer, surfing was expensive, didn’t make any sense and she didn’t want him to feel guilty about his gift. “Truthfully none of the girls surfed. Girls do surf, all over the world, win contests, the whole thing.” She wanted him to understand. “But in Neptune only guys did it.”

“That doesn’t seem fair. Didn’t Logan want you to surf?”

“Nah, even now he does it with Dick, it was something the guys did together. We’d go to the beach and watch, sometimes I’d go and study, because I was always studying.” She looked firmly at Hunter.

“I study hard.” He said quickly. “Surfing is fun, I like you doing it with me.” He put down his drink and his taco and gave her a sudden, unexpected hug. “Those guys were jerks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The 'o9er girls pretty much were their own clique which gravitated around the core male group. A very male dominated and frankly rapey society. I don't remember hearing that any of the 'o9er women surfed, although women do surf all over the world, so I don't think Veronica was especially clumsy or frightened or timid or ladylike, as I sometimes see claimed in stories. Anyway, this story says it was a boys club activity and women were not encouraged. By the time Veronica stopped trying/caring about fitting into the group she didn't have the money or the time.
> 
> It is one possibility.
> 
> Also this is my 'free prompt'


End file.
